Almost 200 public educators in Port Lincoln met across four different venues for professional learning after school on March 22.

Teachers, school service officers and leaders from the Port Lincoln Partnerships six public preschools and eight public schools were involved in a common staff meeting to give educators the opportunity to learn from each other.

Educators chose from a selection of topics including Information Communication Technologies, strategies for supporting students with disabilities or learning challenges, Mathematics and Numeracy, English and Literacy, Science, Languages and The Arts.

Partnership chairperson Robyn Kenny said the common staff meeting helped realise the partnership’s vision that “through collaborative action, we will provide a continuity of quality public education which maximises learning and heightens aspirations of young people and their families”.

She said the idea for the meeting emerged in October 2016.

“A lot of hard work was carried out leading up to the workshops by Sue Van Den Broek and a few colleagues to ensure the event was well organised, provided scope for choice of workshops to suit individual needs and venues were specifically chosen to ensure they were quickly accessible to attend after a day at school.

“The presenters who volunteered to facilitate sessions were enthusiastic and responded professionally to the challenge of sharing some of their high quality, effective practices with their peers.

“I am thrilled with the response of all those involved and regard it as a highly successful event for our local partnership. I am looking forward to the local initiative continuing.”

Port Lincoln Junior Primary School principal Kathy Davison said the sessions were an opportunity to share the schools’ success stories.

“Teachers at Port Lincoln Junior Primary School thoroughly enjoyed working with teachers from a variety of sites and are looking forward to the next partnership staff meeting.”

One presentation drew an audience of educators from preschools to high school.

Presenters Ly Gabb from Bishop Kindergarten, and Gill Jenkins and Nicole Billings, both from Park Terrace Kindergarten, shared their findings on a Numeracy Inquiry Project they had been involved in, prompting participants to explore, research and endeavour to go deeper to improve their pedagogy for numeracy and literacy learning.

The Port Lincoln Partnership schools have committed to hold these staff meetings each term this year to learn from each other to improve students wellbeing and achievement.